Long Lost Princess

In a land far away there lives the Princess you thought you knew. Princess Rapunzel is like nothing any of the stories have described her as. She's no longer the dainty princess left to her own devices, trapped in a tower. She's a bad ass fighting machine. She learns of the Witch's betrayal early on in the story, and the story continues to share her trials of returning to her Kingdom.

4. The Witch's Curse

The Witch's Curse

The troops of Rapunzel's father lined up against the great walls of the palace, to protect her, she supposed. Her father did not want her to fight; but Rapunzel had insisted, she survived living with Meredith for eighteen years, she thought she could bring her down in one battle. Rapunzel posed her bow on a rest provided in the wall and took aim with her arrow, towards a wisp of black smoke she knew to be the arrival of Meredith, Rapunzel had always found it strange that when she made her arrival, black smoke followed her. She fired the arrow, without thinking of its path, of course Rapunzel didn't think it would find anything to sink into, that however took her by surprise when she saw it stop inside the smoke cloud, and a shriek of pain erupt from it, it surprised even the most weathered knight of how powerful the scream of the witch Meredith was. Rapunzel saw the cloud evaporate and in its place was a wounded woman, blood soaking her gown. Her arrow had struck the witch in the heart, an once in a life time shot.

The mages to the skies to make sure the witch had been killed by the princess's arrow. The body of Meredith was brought before the king, and the king gave the word to burn the body in the farthest corner of the kingdom, along with the body of the delusional knight freshly dead. King Braxton did not care if the man, King Arthur or not was almost slashed through with sword, he did not believe that King Arthur would seek refuge in another name and let his kingdom of Camelot believe him to be dead so the traitor and liar would be cremated with the witch who kidnapped his daughter. The King of course did not know of the witch's curse or that Meredith possessed such magic.

Rapunzel sat in her bedroom. Her bedroom not a tower a bedroom, only the finest furniture and fabrics existed in the chambers of Rapunzel. Rapunzel herself no longer cared for her famous hair,that she had been forced to grow out, it was the length most hair would be if it was allowed to grow untamed for eighteen years. Rapunzel didn't dare cut her hair, because if she did, would she be the girl she is now without it. She was Rapunzel the Survivor, the Princess Returned. She heard a knock from the outer most door of her chamber and she went to answer it herself.

"Rapunzel, why do you keep your hair so long? Surely it can't be comfortable."

"Should I cut it? Will I be the same afterwards?"

"Rapunzel, hair doesn't make the princess, the power of her heart does."

"Thanks Seth. You know what I believe I am due for a trim."

THE WITCH'S CURSE:

Meredith sat in her chamber in her mansion deep within the Dark Woods. She concocted the curse she would put into affect if Rapunzel ever cut her fifty foot locks. Meredith herself didn't think of such consequences on her own soul, she planned on being killed. She was done living this life anyhow. She was broken, tattered, and in disrepair. Her heart could no longer hold the love she so desperately craved from the king that once loved her. Now she was but a bitter shell of what she once was. The curse unleashed she made her way to her death. She had no idea the one she called daughter who be the one to strike her down.

Seth sat in his bed, his advisor, actually his supervisor Victor watched him, Seth was sculpting a figure from wood with a dagger. The figure was taking the form of a young woman, her hair flowed down her body and Victor knew the figurine was that of the Princess. Seth was young and foolish in Victor's eyes but he would never change him. Mistakes made knights into the hard hearted warriors they were. If Seth loved the princess enough to sculpt her from wood, then a mistake of Victor's own stature was sure to happen and Victor would be there when the pieces fell like a million shards of glass around the young knight.

"Victor, what do you suppose the Witch's Curse would be, if she made one?"

"She prized Rapunzel's hair, maybe something to do with that."

"You mean if Rapunzel were to cut her hair?"

"Yes, possibly but I'm no seer." Seth went back to his sculpture as Victor rose, unable to control the thoughts he had believed he had barred from his mind long ago. He exited the boy's room and walked swiftly to his own. It was little more than a square, a little bigger than a horse's stall. He sat on the cot and thought of his days as the Queen's lover, he thought of how Rapunzel was his, and not the king's. Throughout his years at the castle, nothing distracted him from his mission, until the Queen. Isabel or Isa as she preferred Victor to call her was something far from an ordinary woman from nobility. She was wild, and filled with life. She didn't care if she got dirty, she didn't care for the fashions, but she cared for the King and she loved Victor.

A knock on the door stirred him from his memories and he opened the door to reveal the King himself.

"Sir Braxton."

"Victor, my daughter she has cut her hair and fallen into a death like slumber. I need you to search the kingdoms for a cure." Seth had been right there was a curse and Rapunzel had fallen to it.

"Yes sir."

"Leave Seth here to look out for her, take Andrew and Christiano with you instead."

"Yes Sir." the king exited the room, and Victor rushed out to retrieve the knights provided to him for the quest to save his daughter, the princess. "ANDREW! CHRISTIANO! Front and center. We have a quest."